


Heartbreaker

by mooniva



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21990463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mooniva/pseuds/mooniva
Summary: When Luka becomes akumatized and turns into Heartbreaker, Marinette and Adrien must fight as Ladybug and Chat Noir to save Paris and their own relationship
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 1
Kudos: 57





	Heartbreaker

Marinette Dupain-Cheng's eyes snapped open as a slight creak in a floorboard gave away the location of her prey. Unable to hide the growing smirk that spread across her face, she twirled her yo-yo, letting the string wrap tightly around the wooden chimney of the building above her, landing on the roof almost soundlessly. She carefully crawled forward, the traction of her suit enabling her to keep her balance on the slanted roof, barely letting her eyes pass over the ledge where she found her prey waiting.

But the blonde hair that greeted her was not the one she was expecting. 

"Adrien?" Marinette whispered, barely managing to pull herself back from the ledge, her mind reeling. She’d leaned over the ledge, expecting to find Chat Noir hiding, waiting for her to find him. Chat had invited Ladybug on yet another date, promising her a beautiful view of Paris at night and the best puns she would ever hear. The cat had finally learned and as opposed to the countless other rooftop dates Chat had invited her to, this one had been a challenge. 

“Come find me,” was all he had offered her. “Find me where the roof meets the sky.” 

It was surprising, considering her immense love for Adrien, that Chat’s challenge had caused Marinette’s heart to flutter wildly. Which was the only reason she’d even attempted to show up. It had been a puzzle for her to solve, to figure out Chat’s hint. Not showing up would have been losing. So for once, Marinette had decided to let both her and Chat win. 

But now everything was different.

Marinette closed her eyes, her head spinning. Certainly she’d often speculated about Chat’s alterego, the real person who was brave enough to don the leather cat suit and stand by her side to fight for Paris. And maybe once or twice in her wildest fantasies, Chat had been Adrien. Because if Chat was Adrien and Adrien loved Ladybug then-

Marinette shook her head, opening her eyes back up to peer once more over the ledge, deciding to keep her presence hidden for now. 

Adrien Agreste was pacing around the small rooftop illuminated by dozens of candles sparkling amidst the night sky. 

“I promise dad. I’m just staying over at Nino’s tonight so we can finish that project for school. Nino’s family takes good care of me so don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” 

Marinette could almost see Chat’s tail twitching with impatience as Adrien continued pacing around nervously. 

Marinette knew she should feel relieved at the reveal that her loyal sidekick with a crush was none other than the popular boy at school whom she was irrevocably in love with, but the thought caused her nothing but stress. What if Adrien’s love for Ladybug wouldn’t extend to Marinette? What if it did? Would Marinette and Adrien be able to be together without revealing their identities to the entire world?

Marinette took a shaky breath as Adrien ended his phone call, calling out for Plagg and turning back into Chat Noir.

So it was true.

Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir.

Everything was ruined.

━━━━━━━━┛ 4 months later ┗━━━━━━━━

“I’ll never understand you, girl.” Alya shook her head disappointedly at her best friend as the two left school together. “All you can talk about for months is how in love you are with Adrien. You blush everytime he looks at you, you inevitably drop whatever is in your hand, you trip, you stutter, but now-” Alya shook her head again, her eyebrows wrinkled in worry. “Out of nowhere you suddenly won’t even talk to him. Won’t even look at him! I thought you two were making progress, at least as friends.”

Marinette let out a defeated sigh, resting her head on Alya’s shoulder as they walk. The worst part about being a superhero, she had realized over the past four months, was that it was impossible to juggle her two separate identities. Alya, the biggest Ladybug fan in the world, could never know her true identity. Marinette couldn’t ever ask her what she thought she should do about the whole Adrien and Chat fiasco. And so, she suffered, by herself, deciding that since she knew they could never be together anyway, it didn’t hurt to try and get over her crush.

Fortunately, Alya didn’t mind Marinette’s silence, already busy formulating her own speculations. “So is it some new strategy then?” She asked excitedly. “Make him realize how much he misses your loyal, kind friendship? Then as he realizes how much he misses having you by his side he’ll realize that he cares about you more than simply a friend. That he loves you too! And then he’ll do this big romantic gesture-”

“Stop it,” Marinette mumbled softly, interrupting her friend’s fantasy. “It’s nothing like that. I’m just tired of being in love with someone who will never love me back. I need to move on.”

Alya froze, her eyes widening with immense concern. This was not the optimistic, always smiling Marinette she was so used to. “Do you actually think you’ll be able to move on?”

Marinette let out a resentful chuckle. “I’m not so sure. I’ve never loved someone this much. I love everything about Adrien. His smile, his humor, his kindness, how considerate he is of others. He makes my heart race. I don’t know that I could ever love anyone else.”

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━  
Deep in the city of Paris, Hawkmoth’s triumphant smile grew. “Ah, the fragrance of unrequited love. The perfect target for my akuma. Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize them!”

The amethyst akuma fluttered through the window, descending upon the school where it followed the trail of tears and rejection, landing on a simple silver, heart necklace. 

“Heartbreaker,” Hawkmoth’s voice echoed, “I give you the power to make everyone suffer the same rejection you have. To let them truly know the despair and agony of a heart breaking in two. All I ask for in return is-”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir’s akumas.” Heartbreaker interrupted, a smile stretching across their face. “That won’t be a problem.”

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” A deep voice called out, startling Marinette and Alya both. 

“L-luka?” Marinette’s eyes widened, instantly distracted from her own love crisis, as Luka, her normally quiet friend, strode towards her, wearing a black bodysuit, similar to her own Ladybug costume. “Luka what happened?”

“Stand back!” Alya warned, shoving her friend behind her. “It looks like he’s be akumatized!”

“Marinette.” Luka repeated, his voice unwavering. “Marinette how dare you.” 

“What?” Marinette squeaked, her hand instinctively reaching to undo the latch of her purse, where Tikki was hiding. All she needed was a chance to escape so she could change into Ladybug. “What did I do wrong?”

“You rejected me!” Luka glared at her, still walking towards her, completely ignoring Alya’s protective stance. “I was going to confess my love for you today,” he held out his left hand which was clutching a purple heart necklace. “I was going to ask you to be my girlfriend. But instead I come here to overhear you and Alya talking about your love for Adrien. For Adrien Agreste.” He glowered at her. “How dare you reject me for some superficial, rich model!”

“I guess he must have missed the part where you said you were trying to get over him,” Alya whispered dryly to Marinette before sparing a quick glance back at her. “You need to run away from here, as fast as you can, I’ll distract him.”

“I need you to learn, Marinette.” Luka’s voice had returned to a calm, eerie timber. “I need you to experience what it feels like to know you’ll never have your love returned.” He slowly started to extend his right arm towards her, but Alya knocked it aside.

Almost instantly, Alya fell to her knees, her eyes glazed over as tears started to fall down her cheeks.

“Alya? Alya? What’s wrong?” Marinette screamed, standing frozen. “What have you done to her?” She turned on Luka, her blue eyes now matching the fury of his. 

“She’s now learning the lesson that I intended for you Marinette.” Luka scowled at her. “She’s learning what it feels like to have your heart broken. To have it ripped apart and smashed into a million pieces.” He took a threatening step towards her, around the now immobilized Alya. “Now it’s your turn.”

“Stop this!” Hawkmoth’s irritated voice echoed in Luka’s head. “You’re allowed to seek your vengeance but first I want Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous! You need to find more people, hurt more people, not just this weak girl. Get their attention so they come to you! Then you can have your moment.”

Luka let out a disappointed sigh, but nodded. “You’re safe for now, Marinette.” He warned her. “I’m going to break the heart of all of Paris. And I want you to know that it’s your fault. That you’re the one who caused everyone this agony. And then, once Paris is suffering, I’ll come back to you and break your heart too.”

Marinette rushed over to Alya’s side the instant that Luka seemingly apparated out of existence. “Alya, Alya are you okay?” She gently shook her friend’s shoulder, but received no response. A puddle of tears was forming at Alya’s feet as the girl stared off into the distance, lost in some vision that only she could see. 

Marinette reluctantly stood up, dusting off her jeans before opening her purse. Tikki darted out, her eyes brimming with worry. “Are you going to be okay Marinette?” She asked tentatively.

“I will be.” Marinette’s eyes narrowed with resolve. “Because it’s my job to stop him.” She smiled weakly at her kwami. “Tikki! Spots on!”

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

“So he disables people by causing them to imagine their heart being broken?” Chat Noir asked as he and Ladybug jumped across the rooftops, trying to find a vantage point where they’d be able to see where Heartbreaker went. 

“Basically.” Marinette responded, not quite able to meet Adrien’s eyes. “I saw someone get immobilized from it and I’m still not sure if she can move.” Marinette let out a sad sigh, pausing on top of a rooftop near the eiffel tower, Adrien stopping directly beside her. “I wish I could have saved her but I wasn’t Ladybug when it happened.”

Adrien nodded, his eyes alight with curiosity under his mask as he found his mind once more wondering what Ladybug’s real identity was. But now, he reminded himself, wasn’t a time to get distracted. “Do you know how Heartbreaker got akumatized? We need to be able to figure out where the akuma is hidden.”

Marinette let out a bitter laugh. “There’s this girl, she’s the baker’s daughter that you rescued not too long ago?” 

Adrien nodded, instantly knowing she meant Marinette. “Yes, she’s nice.” 

“Well,” Marinette tried to ignore the way her heart raced at his comment, “that girl is apparently hopelessly in love with someone else. And Luka, Heartbreaker,” she clarified, “overheard her speaking about it the day he was going to confess to her. The akuma is in a heart necklace he planned to give to her.”

Not for the first time, Adrien studied Ladybug’s pigtails, so similar in style to the one Marinette wore. And since Ladybug seemed so knowledgeable about how this akumitization had happened, he couldn’t help but wonder if she was Marinette. If the adorably clumsy girl he was friends with was Paris’ hero. The one who always saved the day. The one he was hopelessly in love with. It would help explain the way he sometimes found his heart racing when he absentmindedly stared at Marinette. Why all of their awkward interactions left him with a smile on his face. Was it possible?

“So who was she so in love with that she would have rejected Luka?” Adrien couldn’t help the spark of jealousy that fueled his question. Especially if Marinette was Ladybug. 

“Oh I don’t know.” Marinette waved her hand in pretend dismissiveness. “Some model I think? They’re classmates or something?” She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She regretted that she was trying to figure out what Adrien thought of her, not of Ladybug but of Marinette, even though she knew they couldn’t be together. She regretted revealing her own biggest secret.

Adrien’s mouth fell open in shock as he stared at the nonchalance with which Ladybug revealed Marinette’s crush, desperately leaning on his staff for support. So there it was. Marinette couldn’t be Ladybug. And yet still, his mind was reeling.

“She’s in love with Adrien?” He could barely bring himself to form the words. He didn’t know how to respond to this news. What he should say to Ladybug as Chat. What he would ever be able to say to Marinette as Adrien. 

But fortunately he didn’t have to.

Within seconds of saying his own name, a solid chunk of ice surrounded Adrien, encompassing everything from his cat ears to the staff he was holding in his hand. 

“Chat?” Marinette’s eyes widened with fear as she desperately hit against the ice, trying to break him free. After a few seconds of futile hitting, she turned to the only solution she could think of. “Lucky charm!” She called loudly, throwing her yo-yo into the air. 

For once, the shape of the lucky charm was familiar to her and she instantly understood how to use it. She grabbed the red and black spotted hairdryer and plugged it into a convenient outlet of a balcony near where the two had stopped to talk. Then she began slowly melting the ice trapping Chat Noir as she tried to figure out what he had done to summon the ice.

As far as Marinette could tell, Heartbreaker was nowhere near their vicinity, or he would already be trying to get the immobilized Chat’s miraculous. So the ice had to come from some long distance power, one that Heartbreaker would have created. 

Immediately the solution was obvious. She didn’t know what would happen if she said her own name, but it was clear that if someone said Adrien, then they would become trapped in a block of ice. It must be Heartbreaker’s way of punishing him for being the one Marinette loved. 

Marinette let out a loud sigh, propping her head on her knees as the ice slowly melted under the heat of the hairdryer. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Why did she have to fall in love with Adrien? Why did Luka have to overhear her? None of this made sense. She was already heartbroken knowing that she and Adrien could never be together, it’s not that Luka even needed to seek revenge on her. And he would know that if he had overheard even a second more of her conversation with Alya. 

As her mind wandered, Chat Noir slowly began to defrost until his upper torso was free from the ice.

“Thanks Ladybug,” he smiled a little sheepishly at her as she continued to use the hair dryer on his legs. “I guess I’m a pretty nICE guy.” He laughed awkwardly at his own joke. 

“I guess you are,” Marinette rolled her eyes at him, before raising her eyebrow with an idea. “Can’t you just use cataclysm to get yourself out of the rest of this?”

Adrien studied the ice for a second before shaking his head. “No I don’t want to risk it.” He pointed at his staff, the bottom half of which was still stuck in the ice with him. “My cataclysm avoids living things so my legs would be fine, but my staff is stuck in the ice too and I can’t afford to have that destroyed.”

Marinette nodded in understanding before fixing him with a teasing smile. “Then I guess that just means you have time to listen to my plan while I unfreeze the rest of you.”

“That’s just like you, my lady.” Adrien’s returning grin was mischievous. “Using even my being stuck in ice to your advantage.”

Marinette laughed before proceeding to tell him her plan and of the girl who was needed to make it all work.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

Marinette stood under the Eiffel Tower, her heart hammering in her chest, as for the first time she planned to confront a villain as only herself. There was no ladybug suit to heighten her agility. No yo-yo to tie up enemies. No alterego to give her strength. 

It was just going to be her, Marinette Dupain-Cheng versus Heartbreaker.

Of course, Chat Noir was hiding somewhere up in the framework of the Eiffel Tower, ready to complete the final stage of Ladybug’s plan. So knowing that she wasn’t truly alone gave Marinette the strength she needed to go through with this. 

Marinette took a shaky breath before talking to herself. “I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I’m here under the eiffel tower. Waiting for you, Heartbreaker.”

Sure enough, just as she had expected, simply saying her own name, much like how saying Adrien’s had frozen him in place, caused Heartbreaker to immediately teleport to Marinette’s location. Standing a few feet away from her, Marinette watched the expression in Heartbreaker’s eyes soften as he looked at her.

“What do you want?” He asked nervously. “Are you here to break my heart again? Or-”

Marinette took a steadying breath before she walked forward, standing within reaching distance of the figure dressed in black. “I’m here to let you break my heart. You wanted me to suffer like how I made you suffer, right Luka?”

She frowned sadly at him, holding her hand out for him to take if he wanted, knowing that him doing so would result in her heart breaking. Still, she used every bit of willpower in her body to keep her hand steady, unwavering as it hovered near his.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Marinette.” Heartbreaker murmured sadly. He’d been distracted by Hawkmoth’s ideas all day, running around the city causing devastation to anyone who was near him, hoping to draw Ladybug and Chat Noir out of hiding. And he still hadn’t found them, yet, but not even Hawkmoth was going to be able to keep him from talking to Marinette now. 

“I know you don’t, Luka.” Marinette said softly. “I didn’t want to hurt you today either. I hope you know that.” 

Luka recoiled a bit at her words, the softness in his gaze fading. “You broke my heart. Do you know how painful it was to hear that you’re in love with Adrien?”

Every bone in Marinette’s body wanted to protest, like she always did, that she didn’t love Adrien. Especially since she knew that Adrien, dressed as Chat with his catlike hearing, was nearby and could hear every word they were saying.

But knowing that if she said Adrien’s name too early her whole plan would be ruined she merely shook her head. “We don’t choose who we love, Luka. I wish I didn’t love my friend. He’s too famous, too talented, too caring, too smart for me. I never stand a chance of winning his heart-” 

Of keeping it. Was what she wanted to say.  
“But that doesn’t mean I can stop myself from loving him.” She murmured sadly. “It doesn’t mean I want to stop loving him either.” She looked at Heartbreaker’s eyes, determination filling hers. “But you can’t take out your anger on everyone else, just because I hurt you. So break my heart now.” She extended her hand further. “Break my heart so you can stop bringing everyone else into this.”

Heartbreaker faltered, his eyes brimming with confusion; torn between wanting his vengeance and wanting to spare the one he loved. 

Taking a deep breath, Marinette gave Heartbreaker a weak smile before grabbing his right hand with hers.

The world suddenly changed around her and now Marinette was standing back at school, directly in front of Adrien.

“Marinette,” Adrien shook his head once, sadly, not quite meeting her eyes. “Marinette I don’t think I could believe you were Ladybug even if you transformed right in front of me. Ladybug is everything you’re not. She’s smart, she’s innovative, she’s daring, she’s brave, she’s witty and funny.” He shook his head again, more firmly this time. “You’re weak and clumsy. You stammer whenever you see me. Even if you wear the Ladybug suit, you aren’t her. You aren’t good enough to be her.” 

Marinette stood frozen, tears welling up in her eyes as she listened to the person she loved most in the world speak. But she didn’t try to fight him, to interrupt him. She just let him speak, her eyes still enamored with his features, his golden hair, his green eyes. “I’m not going to stop loving you.” She whispered, almost inaudibly. “I can’t stop loving you.”

“I don’t care.” Adrien turned back to face her, shrugging indifferently. “I’m over you. Over Ladybug. It was a mistake to waste so much time and effort on a fraud.” He started to walk away from her, only to turn around once more. Apparently determined to rub even more salt into her wounds. “You’re ridiculously for even thinking we could have worked out. You knew I was Chat Noir and that it would have made everything too complicated. You were willing to risk both of our lives, our secret identities, because you managed to get feelings.” He let out a cruel laugh. “You’re so stupid, Marinette.”

But it was Adrien’s repeating everything that Marinette had been saying to herself for the past four months; how loving Adrien was dangerous for both of them. How she was putting them both at risk. It was this familiar mantra that gave Marinette the strength to fight back against Heartbreaker’s illusion. 

“It was worth a try,” Marinette blinked her eyes, opening them to once more find Heartbreaker standing in front of her. “It was worth a try to break my heart but,” She let out a little laugh, tears falling down her cheeks, “my heart was already broken. I know exactly how you feel, Luka.” She reached out to grasp his left hand, unfolding Heartbreaker’s hand to reveal the akumatized necklace. She smiled at it briefly before grabbing the pendant and running it through her fingers. 

Heartbreaker hesitated, too focused on what Marinette was saying to realize how exposed he was. 

“I know how you feel, but because of that you should understand why we would never work out. My heart has already been broken by someone else. By someone I am completely in love with you. It wouldn’t be fair of me to accept a beautiful gift like this from you. You should give it to someone who deserves it. Someone who will be able to return your love. Because that can’t be me. Not so long as I love Adrien.”

Heartbreaker’s eyes widened as she said Adrien’s name and he immediately let go of the necklace, allowing Marinette and it to be encased by a sudden block of ice. 

Recognizing his queue, Adrien let out a smirk before he lept off the framework of the Eiffel Tower. Ladybug’s plan to entrust the help of Marinette and to use Heartbreaker’s weakness for her had worked perfectly. And now it was his turn. 

“Cataclysm!” He screamed as he plummeted towards the block of ice. As soon as one of his claws came in contact with the ice, it shattered apart, freeing Marinette and destroying the akumatized necklace she had been holding in her hand. 

Adrien watched the akuma fly out of the necklace, a little worried, hoping that Ladybug would come out of hiding soon so she could purify the butterfly and return everything to normal. But for now he watched as Heartbreaker’s costume dissolved, leaving behind a confused Luka. 

He turned his attention to Marinette, who was also watching the akuma fly away, her lips pursed in concern. 

“Don’t worry!” He said cheerfully, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Ladybug will show up any minute now and she’ll return everything to normal!”

“About that-” Marinette sighed. This was the part of the plan she hadn’t wanted to consider. The plan had been entirely dependent on her being herself, not needing to rely on Ladybug’s powers, but of course, now that the Villain was taken care of, the akuma was able to go out and attack others unless she stopped it. “I’m sorry, Chat.” She said softly.

“Tikki?” She called her faithful kwami, who hesitantly appeared in front of Adrien. Marinette could only give a small smile, filled with regret, before shouting “Tikki spots on!”

And Adrien could only stand there. His eyes wide in amazement as all of his suspicions, the ones he had kept disregarding as implausible, were confirmed. 

Ladybug was Marinette.

Marinette was Ladybug.

He was unable to hide the wonder in his eyes as Marinette transformed in front of his eyes, appearing one second as Marinette, his friend, and the next as Ladybug, the girl he was in love with. He wondered why he wasn’t more perturbed that he was in love with one of his close friends, but as he watched Ladybug fix the havok Heartbreaker had caused, he could only see Marinette.

He could see Marinette’s soft smile as she let the akuma free. He could see the sparkle in Marinette’s eyes as she summoned her lucky charm. He could see Marinette’s brain working diligently as her lucky charm turned out to be a macaroon. And it was only Marinette’s laugh he could hear as she held out the macaroon to him.

“It’s like my lucky charm wanted to prove that I am Ladybug to you. That I’m not some-” Her voice hesitated on the word that the illusion of Adrien had spit so maliciously at her. “That I’m not some fraud.”

“I know you’re not.” Adrien murmured, stepping close to interlock their fingers as he stared into Marinette’s blue eyes. “You’re Marinette. I don’t know how I missed that before. How I missed that I’m so helplessly in love with you.” 

He looked down at his now blinking ring and let out an embarrassed chuckle. “If you want, you can see who I am too. I think it might surprise you.”

Marinette giggled back. “You’re Adrien. I’ve known for a while now. You accidentally transformed in front of me once.”

Adrien’s eyes widened in surprise just as he transformed out of Chat Noir. “You knew? And you didn’t say anything? Even though you knew I was in love with Ladybug? And you were in love with me?”

Marinette shrugged slightly. “It doesn’t change anything. You’re not in love with me. You’re in love with her.”

Adrien shook his head, his hand wrapping tightly around her waist. “You are her. I’m in love with you, Marinette. Everything good about her is an essential part of you. I’m just sorry it took me this long to recognize it.” 

Marinette’s eyes softened at that and she was barely able to throw the macaroon in the air, using “miraculous ladybug” to restore everything to normal, before Adrien’s lips were on hers, her fingers running through his soft hair, his hands holding onto her waist. 

They stayed like that, warm from their love for each other, the sun setting behind the Eiffel Tower. 

It was only when she had transformed back into Marinette, when the two were walking hand in hand along the Seine river, that Marinette had the courage to ask. “Isn’t this dangerous? What if our identities get revealed?”

Adrien shook his head at that, giving her hand a tight squeeze. “You’re worth any risk, Marinette. This moment is the happiest I’ve ever felt. I love you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I’m not ever going to let you go.”


End file.
